In the fall of 2019, I went on my first overnight hike to Mt. Komagatake in the Akita Prefecture of Japan. Prior to this trip, my last huge hike was 3 years prior and it was a rewarding experience (Cinque Terre in Italy – I’ll blog about that later). The hike up and down Mt. Komagatake was both physically and mentally exhausting. When we approached steep steps or rocks that we had to climb up or down, I questioned whether I would be able to make it to the other side. I’m glad that I survived and made it through our trek with the support of my friend, our guide, our hiking friends, and the Japanese kids that hiked alongside us. Hiking in Japan is pretty similar to a hike in the US. Something that was new to me was that many of the Japanese had bells on their backpacks. We were told that it’s to scare off any bears (thankfully we didn’t see any).

I really liked this hike because we did not have to carry our backpacks with us. We dropped off our things in the cabin that we would stay in that night and began our journey. Here is where we stayed:

My favorite moment of the trip occurred half way through our hike where 3 Japanese kids hiked alongside us with their family. At that point in the hike, I was OVER IT and ready to chill out! I was shocked at how energetic they were as we went up and down the mountain. Meanwhile, I was in the background huffing and puffing. At first, they kept saying “tired and hungry oh my God”. As we went up and down the mountain we exchanged words in English and Japanese. I was glad that they were there because they gave me the push that I needed to keep going.

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Throughout the hike, we took a lot of breaks so that everyone could catch their breath. It was also a great opportunity to take in the views and to take pictures. Here are a few of my favorites:

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After our hike, we went to an onsen to relax. For those that don’t know, onsens are public hot spring baths that are popular in Japan. When you go, you “put on” your birthday suit, lightly wash your body outside of the bath, and get in the indoor or outdoor bath. There’s no swimming allowed since you are there to relax. The acidic water helps in soothing my sore muscles from the hike and we all felt amazing afterwards. Since people were in the nude, I wasn’t able to take any pictures in the onsen, sorry!

After our trip to the onsen, we went back to the cabin to prepare for dinner. Everyone pitched in with vegetables and meat that we cooked on a small grill. Of course we brought wine to enjoy! I was super hungry and did not take any pictures of our food, sorry!

We all had a good night’s rest in our sleeping bags. The only scary part about that night was the fact that bears or other wild animals could have been roaming around. The door into the cabin rattled most of the night, and I was afraid that it was a bear trying to come in (it was only the wind). There were moments where I thought that I heard bears, but it was only other people snoring very loudly. To get to the bathroom, you had to go to a separate building that was nearby. Since there were no outside lights, you had to use a flashlight and hope that nothing popped out of the woods. Thankfully, no one saw or was attacked by wild animals that night.

Recently, outdoor activities such as hiking or simply taking a walk outside have been a great outlet during this quarantine period. I hope that everyone has been able to find at least one outlet to get through our current times. I also hope that you enjoy the views that I was able to capture from Mt. Komagatake!

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